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MOSCOW, Nov 12- Alexander Shalin rides a bike to work, shops in local grocery stores and doesn't worry too much about fashion. The 37- year-old manager should be recession-proof, but even he is feeling the pinch from Russia's slowing economy. To escape the "terrible" weather in Russia's second city of St Petersburg, Shalin takes as many foreign trips as he can, but now...

MOSCOW, Nov 12- Russia's rouble held steady on Wednesday after several days of volatile trading and a central bank decision to float the currency, with investors cautious after the bank warned of large forex market interventions to punish "speculators". Prices for benchmark Brent crude futures, which slipped below $81 a barrel on Wednesday and were near their...

*Swap limit of $2 bln to apply until end of November. MOSCOW, Nov 11- The Russian central bank said on Tuesday it was limiting banking sector rouble liquidity by temporarily cutting the size of its foreign exchange swap operations to the equivalent of $2 billion a day. Central Bank governor Elvira Nabiullina said on Monday that the bank was considering limiting...

MOSCOW, Nov 11- The rouble resumed its dramatic slide on Tuesday, a day after the Russian central bank floated the currency that has been driven sharply lower by falling oil prices and economic sanctions imposed over Russia's policy in Ukraine. A new threat to a two-month-old ceasefire in eastern Ukraine has hurt hopes that sanctions could be lifted soon.

MOSCOW, Nov 11- The rouble weakened on Tuesday, giving up some of the strong gains from the previous two sessions as oil prices slid and as demand for dollars picked up after the central bank discontinued its regular forex market interventions a day earlier. The central bank has warned it could still intervene to defend the rouble if risks to financial stability...

MOSCOW, Nov 11- Igor Sechin, head of Russia's biggest oil producer Rosneft, has asked President Vladimir Putin to scrap planned changes to the country's oil tax regime, business daily Kommersant reported on Tuesday. Russia's lower house of parliament, the State Duma, approved the changes to the tax regime last month in a first reading. The second, main reading is...

It may seem a poor time to imagine a revamped security architecture for Europe when a frail ceasefire in eastern Ukraine is violated daily, raising the stakes in another "frozen conflict" in the post-Soviet space surrounding Russia. The United States and the European Union have imposed three waves of sanctions on Moscow over its annexation of Crimea and...

MOSCOW, Nov 10- Russia launched on Monday a state-of-the-art media organization with hundreds of journalists abroad intended to wean the world off what it called aggressive Western propaganda- dubbing it with echoes of the Cold War, Sputnik. In a hi-tech presentation in a media center once used to host Cold War-era press conferences, one of President Vladimir...

BEIJING, Nov 10- Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Monday he hoped the central bank's decision to float the rouble will help stabilize the Russian currency, adding he saw no fundamental reasons behind its large falls.

*Sees $95 oil price next year followed by decline. MOSCOW, Nov 10- Russia faces the prospect of three years of economic stagnation, the central bank predicted on Monday, underscoring the heavy costs of President Vladimir Putin's Ukraine policies and of Russia's dependence on fragile oil prices. In an annual monetary policy strategy document, the bank slashed its...

BEIJING, Nov 10- VTB, Russia's No.2 bank, may delist from the London Stock Exchange in favour of Chinese bourses as sanctions imposed in the Ukraine crisis hit its ability to raise capital in Western markets, its chief executive said on Monday. The Western sanctions imposed on VTB over Russia's role in the conflict in Ukraine limit its ability to raise funds--...

LONDON, Nov 10- A landmark deal to give global investors easier access to China's $3.9 trillion stock market lifted world shares to their highest in over a month on Monday, as tensions in Libya and Ukraine pushed up oil prices. Chinese shares jumped 2.5 percent and Hong Kong's Hang Seng index climbed almost 1 percent after the two exchanges announced a November 17...

BEIJING, Nov 10- Russia and China intend to increase the amount of trade settled in the yuan, President Vladimir Putin said on Monday in remarks that would be welcomed by Chinese authorities who want the currency to be used more widely around the world. Speaking at an Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Beijing, Putin also ruled capital controls for...